County Plans For New Space Needs
With 4100 employees countywide Tulare County is a big office user and is about to get bigger.
“We have plenty of moving parts and some big plans” says supervisor Phil Cox.
Cox says two soon vacant buildings on Burrel will get new county tenants as the HR department moves to the former Planetarium space and IT will relocate to the Tulare CO Office of Education building once that agency’s new 80,000sf office on Mooney is ready.
Nearby there is a pending relocation of the dispatch office to Lovers Lane and the plan to build a new jail at Sequoia Field will mean the demolition fo the old MainJail also on the Burrel campus.
Cox says the county is hopeful it can snag an additional $ 6million in state monies to build out the $40 million jail at Sequoia Field in 2016. A new jail in Porterville is expected to be built later this year.
More immediately the latest development is the likelihood that the County will lease or buy the Cigna building on Akers which is at least half empty and on the market. A deal is expected soon.
Cox says if the plan would be to relocate some employees with HHS from Mooney’s Government Plaza where there are tight quarters.
College of the Sequoias Prepares Solar Project
COS board if trustees are expected to approve a contract to build two solar power units – one each on the Visalia and Tulare campus. The units include a 623.28 kW system to be installed at the Tulare Center and a 270.48 kW system on a parking lot in Visalia..COS is applying for a $3 million energy commission loan to build the project.
Kaweah Delta Opens New Dinuba Clinic
Kaweah Delta has opened a new clinic in Dinuba – the fourth rural health care clinic under the umbrella of the Kaweah Delta Health Care District.
“Our goal is to make specialty services available to this community so that people do not have to leave the area for care,” said Dave Garrett, Kaweah Delta director of outpatient health clinics.
The building is 5,000 square feet in size and has 12 exam rooms.
Next door a physical therapy complex is being built as well.
Tulare County Well Failures Near 900
Private well failures total near 900 this in Tulare County says a county agency. The number as of early 2015 is cumulative from last summer. The dry wells have set in motion a plan to install emergency water tanks with a 3000 gallon supply delivered by truck says staffer Denise England.